Courses

Nursing

Students gain an understanding of families and current family theories (e.g., Systems Theory, Developmental, Communication, Stress Theories, etc.) in detail. They examine the interaction of family structure, function, traits, processes, and health for diverse families using a life cycle approach. Case studies focus on individuals, families, and communities dealing with health protection, health promotion, disease prevention, and acute and chronic illnesses. Students plan assessments and empirically based interventions for diverse, traditionally underserved families. Students have the opportunity to present their application of a specific family theory to a selected clinical situation.

5552. Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis (4
s.h.)

Prerequisite: NURS 5553.

Corequisite: NURS 5557.

This course builds on previously acquired basic health assessment skills. It forms the foundation for subsequent primary care courses. The course includes comprehensive and focused history taking and advanced health assessment skills, recognition of pathophysiologic changes, clinical reasoning, symptom clustering, diagnostic studies, and differential diagnosis for individuals across the lifespan. Through a synthesis of classroom, laboratory, and clinical experiences, students learn to focus their assessment skills and diagnostic abilities in determining an accurate diagnosis. The course includes assessment for behavioral, physical, and substance abuse problems commonly found in underserved urban clients. Students complete a minimum of 120 hours of precepted clinical time.

5553. Pathophysiology
for Advanced Nursing Practice (3
s.h.)

A systems approach is used to analyze selected acute and chronic pathophysiologic states across the lifespan in order to provide the scientific rationale for advanced nursing practice. Concepts regarding health and illness, normal control and compensatory systems, and subsystem-specific deviations are presented and analyzed. Emphasis is on those major acute and chronic disorders that are most prevalent, in terms of morbidity and mortality, in the U.S. population.

This course focuses on the analysis and evaluation of theoretical
and conceptual formulations of nursing and the advanced practice
role. The application of these concepts in practice, education,
and research is examined. The course also explores the use
of theories and theoretical constructs from related disciplines
in nursing and health care.

5555. Health Policy for Diverse Communities (3 s.h.)

This course examines health policy issues and diverse populations in the context of health care trends, organizations, and modes of health care delivery. The current health status of diverse populations provides a background to examine legal, ethical, social, economic, and political issues facing diverse populations in the United States. Emphasis is on nursing’s role in the health care system and on the effects of external forces on nursing practice. An interdisciplinary approach provides students with an understanding of interacting professional and client systems and the necessity for collaboration in planning strategies for leadership and ongoing change.

This course covers selected topics in pharmacology and clinical therapeutics that will be encountered by the nurse practitioner. Material in this course is supplemented by more specific, disease-management focused content in subsequent primary care courses. Lectures cover the basics of pharmacologic mechanisms, dose-response relationships, pharmacokinetics (in children, adults, and the elderly), and factors that alter a drug’s bioavailability. Pharmacological agents include autonomic, analgesics, anti-infective drugs and agents affecting the central nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory, and GI systems. The implications of age on drug action are considered. Pharmacogenomics, human drug testing, drug laws, herbal medicines, OTC drugs, and nutritional agents are discussed. Prescribing and drug safety are addressed with special attention to prescribing in pregnancy and lactation. The course uses a lifespan approach overall. Economic and ethical issues in pharmacological management of underserved populations is discussed.

5558. Local and Global Perspectives in Population Health (3 s.h.)

This course enables students to examine, utilize, and evaluate social determinants of health as they apply to advanced nursing and population health. Calculating and interpreting measurements are used to assess public health status and risk. Experimental and non-experimental study designs are analyzed, as are issues of data interpretation. Key features of screening tools and principles of creating effective screening programs are examined. These principles are utilized in examining infectious and non-infectious diseases and determinants of health of aggregate populations. Social, environmental, occupational, and biological determinants of health are explored to create health policy from the local to global levels. Students also have the opportunity to incorporate these principles in the clinical setting.

5901. Statistics for Evidence-Based Practice (3 s.h.)

This course explores statistical methods commonly used by nurses to understand human health patterns. Students critically assess the appropriateness of various research methods and techniques for addressing research questions in the field of human health, both on the individual and aggregate level. Students learn the normal curve and other distributions; parametric and nonparametric statistics; power analysis and determination of effect; hypothesis generation and types I and II errors; and basic inferential statistical techniques. Through the use of various statistical software programs and manipulation of large health databases, student explore the research process as it affects human health patterns.

5902. Evidence-Based Practice (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: NURS 5901.

Advancing their knowledge of research in the delivery of health care, students explore epistemological and philosophical frameworks in relation to clinical problems. Students are challenged to critically analyze practice interventions and patterns of care employed in their clinical environments, exploring factors that may impede effective, quality health care delivery. Through guided study of evidence-based scholarship, students are supported to challenge status quo orientations to health care, imagining re-conceptualized alternatives. Encouraged to explore diverse and plausible alternatives to current practices, students examine possible new or re-imagined solutions based on evidence-based findings. Students critique existing scholarship and propose translational designs to disseminate findings into practice.

5903. Research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: NURS 5901 and NURS 5902.

This course builds on the philosophy and logic of scientific inquiry facilitating students’ knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Students design a research proposal, advancing hypotheses requiring qualitative and/or quantitative methods. Completed studies employing one or both of these methods are evaluated for impact on health care systems and nursing practice.

This course examines factors critical to the health status of diverse populations across settings, with particular emphasis on urban environments. Variables explored include, but are not limited to, the dynamically interacting systems of education, housing, architecture, transportation, health care delivery, government, economics, law, religion, and culture. The relationships among these potential influences on health status are explored within the context of class and economics as key drivers of health indices. Students engage in course requirements that generate critical analysis of environmental systems that perpetuate poor health indices, particularly among minorities. Students engage in nursing-focused case analyses, problem-based exercises, class discussion, and debates as vehicles for understanding the key constructs explicated in this course.

8211. Leadership and Health Policy in Clinical Nursing (3 s.h.)

This course enables students to analyze institutional, local, state, regional, and national policies, processes, and procedures for their impact on individual and population health. The roles and responsibilities of members of the health care team are explored with a focus on collaboration and delegation as means to achieve cost-effective quality care. The course includes an analysis of previous, existing, and pending U.S. health policy as it impacts access, safety, quality, and efficacy of health delivery. Emphasis is placed on nursing’s advocacy role in policy evolution. Attributes of effective health policy leadership within the nursing profession are examined, with a focus on nursing’s role in the evolution of community, public, and global health policy.

This course focuses on improving health outcomes for individuals and populations through analysis of recommendations of various health reports and implementation of quality initiatives. Organizational systems are analyzed to identify barriers to achieving quality outcomes and develop initiatives to overcome those barriers. Analysis of practice patterns, perceived incongruence between productivity and quality, and issues of sustainability are examined. Using the principles of evidence-based practice, policy changes are advanced as alternative means of improving health outcomes.

Concepts determining quality, access, and equity in health care are explored as they create the context of the U.S. health care system. Reimbursement systems used in health care are examined for their impact on care decisions made at the individual, family, community, and public levels. Gaps in health care financing resulting in compromises in health delivery are analyzed, with alternative models of universal health care coverage explored. Multiple data sets are analyzed to identify variations in health outcomes. This information is used to propose systems improvements to improve outcomes.

General systems theory is used as the framework for an in-depth nursing study of the family as client in the health care system. Selected family theorists are introduced and their theories analyzed as a basis for identification of assessment parameters and intervention strategies.

8604. Transition to Practice: Advanced Practice Nurse (2 s.h.)

Prerequisite: Completion of all specialty courses.

This course is intended to facilitate the transition from student to the advanced practice nursing role. It explores the impact of external agencies on the implementation of the advanced practice role and their effect on client systems. Students investigate ways in which the advanced practice nurse can maximize client outcomes through participation in professional activities. The influence of the advance practice role components on policy, practice environment, and personal development is examined.

8788. History and Philosophy of Higher Education and Nursing Education (3 s.h.)

This course examines historical and current philosophies of education, which impact and shape trends in both higher education and nursing education. The history of nursing education and associated theories is studied in the context of inclusion of nursing education in higher education settings. Philosophical similarities and the differences between higher and nursing education models are examined with attention to the transition in nursing from apprenticeship to doctoral models. Issues, trends, policies, and procedures in higher education and their impact on nursing are discussed.

This course introduces a variety of educational technologies and approaches being incorporated into healthcare organizations in both the clinical services and health science academic settings. It focuses on a critical review and analysis of various technologies for clinical service and academic learning environments through interactive teaching-learning methodologies. Assignments correlate with educational technology principles and practice with particular relevance to healthcare organizations.

8801. Pedagogical Theory in Nursing Curriculum Development (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: NURS 8802.

This course introduces the student to pedagogical theories that guide the nurse in developing the educator role. Pedagogical theories are examined in the context of their influence on curriculum design and curricular decision-making processes. Through this course, the student develops an understanding of the differences between learning and teaching and the roles of the teacher and nurse. Students examine the needs of selected constituencies and the ways in which pedagogical theory addresses those needs. The role of curriculum in preparing nurses for complex health systems is examined.

This course is designed to explore various learning environments and the role of the nurse educator in facilitating learning. The focus is on choosing teaching strategies that appropriately address the domains of learning. The role of the learning environment is explored with particular attention to the student-teacher relationship. Development theories and associated research are used to explain individual differences and ranges of learning needs.

This course is designed to help students understand the evaluation process as it relates to all aspects of the teaching/learning process. Evaluations of the student, instructor, and course are included. Students learn to develop evaluation methods to facilitate improvement in each aspect of the teaching-learning process. Evaluation of the learner and teacher is examined for classroom, laboratory, and clinical practice environments.

8804. Program Evaluation and Performance Improvement (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: NURS 8803.

This course introduces the student to the broad concepts of program evaluation and quality improvement in nursing education. Quality improvement models are examined as a mechanism to develop a performance improvement culture. The use of accreditation standards as a vehicle for program evaluation is applied in a variety of scenarios. Students learn how to select program and student outcomes and develop resources that can be used for quality improvement initiatives. The role of the nurse educator as a leader in program and performance improvement is examined.

In this course, the nurse practitioner student learns to provide primary care to the young child, adolescent, and family. The course focuses on acute, episodic disorders with which this population commonly presents in a primary care setting. In addition to diagnosis and treatment of these disorders, the course applies a variety of health promotion models to help children and families develop positive health behaviors. Skills to help families adapt to the changes that occur in the family unit with growth and development of the children are incorporated into the content. The influence of community and social concerns on health are addressed.

9387. Primary Care for Children with Chronic Health Problems (4 s.h.)

Prerequisite: Completion of core courses and NURS 9287.

In this course, the pediatric nurse practitioner student learns to provide for the child and family with chronic or long-term health concerns. The focus is on congenital or acquired conditions that manifest with one or more long-term sequelae, such as functional limitations, disfigurement, medication dependency, and special dietary requirements. Integration of the child into the school and community environment through the use of special services is discussed. The influence of social, economic, and developmental concerns on health are addressed.

This clinical course emphasizes various theories of human behavior, including psychoneuro-biological theories. The course focuses on advanced nursing skills in interviewing, assessment, and intervention with various client systems. Students are expected to work with individual clients utilizing various theoretical nursing perspectives and psychotherapeutic techniques.

9488. Transition to the Nurse Educator Role Practicum (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: NURS 8804.

This course presents students with the opportunity to design a practical experience that is consistent with their individual career goals. Students meet with the course coordinator at the end of the preceding semester to discuss future career goals and identify the type of environment most conducive to those goals. The environment selected should enable the student to participate in clinical and classroom teaching and undertake the responsibilities associated with the educator role in the chosen environment. While the course coordinator facilitates this process, it is the student’s responsibility to design the experience.

9585. Clinical Nurse Leader Practicum (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: Completion of all core courses and all CNL specialty courses.

This clinical course in the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) program is a combination of practicum and theory. The CNL student is assigned to an agency that provides the opportunity to integrate the concepts addressed throughout the program. The course includes 16 hours of clinical practicum and one hour of theory per week. During theory sessions, students discuss aspects of implementing the role of the CNL, such as effective staff teaching, evaluating learning, ethical decision making, risk reduction, and transitioning to systems’ thinking. This course is designed as a bridge to the CNL immersion experience.

9586. Clinical Nurse Leader Immersion (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: NURS 9585.

This is the culminating experience in the CNL program. In this course, the student is assigned to a partner agency three days per week (24 hours/week). During this immersion experience, the student serves as the CNL in that partner agency. Within that role, the student analyzes the client outcomes, develops evidence-based alternative(s) to address specific agency needs, and works with partner staff to implement sustainable practice change(s). The evidence-based practice change is presented at a student conference at the end of the semester.

This class covers perspectives on group strategies and interventions appropriate for the nurse working with individuals and their families. Included are theories of group process and practical approaches to working with persons of varied levels of emotional and cognitive function. The student organizes a group and conducts a series of sessions.

9885. DNP Clinical Capstone (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: NURS 9888.

This course facilitates students’ integration of evidence-based research and leadership within their fieldwork practicum. Through critical analysis of knowledge supportive of their practice, students progress from the role of novice provider to more sophisticated and skilled advanced practitioners. The program’s systems orientation is explicated in practice through seminars, assignments, fieldwork, and professional presentations. Working in concert with one or more fieldwork preceptors, students practice in their selected specialty track and implement complex clinical reasoning in the provision of care appropriate to the client: an individual, family, community, or the public at large. Students’ fieldwork, seminars, and course requirements culminate in nursing expertise in our culture’s evolving health care delivery system.

9886. DNP Evidence-Based Practice Project Implementation (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite:NURS 9885.

This course is a culminating experience for students as they incorporate leadership attributes into their professional repertoire, assuming roles demanding evidence-based change in a selected field. Integrating previously acquired knowledge and skills, students demonstrate successful execution of a fieldwork project in concert with their project mentor(s). Such projects, derived from evidence-based research, evolve from needs identified in the fieldwork experience. Through faculty and mentor-guided seminars, students design and implement projects, providing their fieldwork agencies with final presentations. In cooperation with fieldwork mentors, strategic plans to integrate and evaluate project results are incorporated in final projects.

In this course, the nurse practitioner student focuses on the primary care needs of the adolescent client and clients with health concerns related to the reproductive system in the classroom and at the clinical site. Normal physiologic alterations associated with reproductive health are addressed with emphasis on health promotion behaviors. Changes in reproductive health indicative of pathology are also addressed with a focus on treatment as well as health promotion. The course also addresses psychosocial issues common to adolescents and reproductive health clients in urban, underserved areas.

Nurse practitioner students learn to assess, diagnose, and manage primary health care problems common in the young/middle-aged adult population. The fundamental role of the interdisciplinary team is incorporated in the management of client systems through collaboration in developing a treatment plan. Preventing illness in the individual, family, and community is explored using various health promotion models. The impact of illness on the individual, family, and community is also examined. Challenges in implementing preventive health recommendations and treating acute illness in underserved urban populations are discussed. Students complete a minimum of 120 hours of precepted clinical time in an approved primary care setting.

9987. Primary Care of the Young and Middle Adult with Acute/Episodic Health Problems (4 s.h.)

Prerequisite: Completion of core courses.

In this course, adult and family nurse practitioner students learn to assess, diagnose, and manage common health care problems in older adults seeking care in diverse health settings. Health behavior models are utilized to help client systems practice health promotion behaviors. Emphasis is on collaborative and interdisciplinary practice with other members of health professions to develop treatment plans. The course incorporates research and current practice guidelines in developing an evidence-based practice framework. The impact of culture, socioeconomic conditions, family, and community environments on health is explored.

In this course, students collaborate with faculty to plan career goals and personal clinical objectives, as well as find a clinical site to complete the practicum. Clinical experience can be weekly or completed in blocks during a single semester for a minimum of 120 hours. Students work with a preceptor and submit logs and clinical reports to faculty as negotiated.